Manifolding attachment for typewriters



AW. W, 1923. 1,45L86 M L. COSSITT MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT FORTYPEYTRITERS Filed June 28 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l Apr. 117, 1923. HALfifiI M. L. COSSITT Y MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed June 281922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q22 0): eye

Jim/am 2 0m Patented Apr. 17, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFricE.

MALCOLM L. COSSITT, OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO MANIFOLD IMPRES-SIONS CORPORATION, OF CARSON CITY, NEVADA, A CORPORATION OF NEVADA.

MANIFOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS.

Application filed June 28, 1922. Serial No. 571,462.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MALCOLM L. Cossrrr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Alameda, in the county of Alameda and State of California,haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in ManifoldingAttachments for Typewriters, of which the following is a specification.

My inventlon relates to that class of manifolding attachments fortypewriters in which one or more manifolding members are carried by andbetween spaced arms on rotatable members mounted on the platen carriageof the machine, parallel with the platen, and are adapted to be movedthrough a distorted path about two centers to and from functionalposition in the line of type impact.

The objects of m invention are to provide simple and e ective means forselectively operating said manifolding members and varying theirposition with relation to their width when in functional position, ateach line spacing movement of the platen.

To these ends my invention consists in the novel manifolding attachmentsfor type writers which I shall now fully describe by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which--' Fig. 1 is a front elevation of theright hand end of my manifolding attachment.

Fig. 2 is a to plan, broken in part, of the same.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-4.of Fig. 2 showing theselectivespring member engaging the stud of the second ribbon carryingarm.

Fig. 4 is a section on said line 3-4: of

Fig. 2, showing the selective spring member engaging the stud of thethird ribbon carrying arm.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of certain of the parts at the righthandend of the attachment showing the ribbon carrying arms elevated and theselective spring member engaging the stud of the first arm.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of some of the parts ,of Fig. 5 looking atthem from the rear.

Fig. 7 is a view showing, somewhat diagrammatically tlie' line spacing.engagement of the platen ratchet and the pawl and ratchet control of theselective operating shaft of the'ribbon carrying arms.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. l.

Fig. 9 is a detail elevation showing two of the ribbon carrying armsdepressed and the platen engagement for line spacing movement of theribbons completed.

1 is the platen of a typewriter which is mounted on the usual carriage,not shown herein; 2 is the usual line spacing ratchet of the platen; 3is the platen shaft, with its knob 4, and 5 indicates one of thebearings of the platen shaft on the platen carriage- Fig. 1.

Upon the platen'carriage above the platen shaft bearing 5 is securedabracket 6. There are two of these brackets, one beyond each end of theplaten, only one being here shown, namely the one at the right hand end.

Mounted for rotation in the right hand bracket is a shaft 7, a similarshaft, not shown, being mounted in the left hand bracket. Each of theseshafts carries a crank 8, the right hand one alone being shown, and saidshaft has also a lever 9 by which it is turned on its axis.

In the free extremity of each crank 8 is fitted a centerin shaft 10, theright hand one alone being s own. This shaft is mounted for rotation andcarries a knob 11 for turning it.

Between the pair of centering shafts 10 are fitted a plurality of nestedsleeves 12, each sleeve being adapted for independent rotation about acommon axis.

Each sleeve carries at each end an arm 13, the arms at the right handend being here shown. Said arms are in superposed nested relation andeach is provided with a laterally projecting stud 14.

arried by and between the free extremities of each pair of arms is a.manifolding ribbon 15, indicated by the dotted lines in F ig. l.

The position of the nested sleeves, and their ribbon-carrying arms, withrelation to th platen is such that when the arms are elevated theribbons are out of use and when the arms are depressed, turning withtheir sleeves about the centering shafts 10 as an axis, the ribbons arecarried down to a posi-v tion in front of the platen, but above the lineoftype impact, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 8. Then bydepressing the lever 9, the crank shafts 7 will carry the ribbons downto functional position in the line of type impact, as shown in Fig. 9.

- tering shaft a resilient spiral crank memher or spring 16 coiled aboutthe shaft at right angles to its axis, said spring having at its freeend a pick up lug 17, in the path of rotation of which the laterallyprojecting studs 14 of the ribbon carrying arms lie. When' the spiralcrank member or spring 16 is condensed to its closed in limit, its lug17 will lie behind the stud of the first or innermost carrying arm whensaid arm is elevated, as seen in Fig. 5. Then, if the centering shaft 10be turned, the lug 17 of the coiled crank member 16 will by pressure onthe first stud 14 carry the innermost arm 13 down, to place its ribbonin its first position above the line of type impactFig. 5. When thisposition is reached and the ribbon lies against the platen, and isstopped thereby, continued rotation of the shaft 10 in the samedirection will cause the lug 17 ofthe coiled crank member 16 to slippast said stud, and said crank member will, due to its T resiliency,spring outwardly, but its body coil coming in contact with the stud ll:of the second arm 13, which is still elevated, the

outward movement of said crank member is limited.

The crank member will then ride on. said second stud, until its lug 17comes to and picks up said second stud 14, Fig. where upon continuedrotation will serve to carry the second arm 13 down to place its ribbonin its first position. In like manner the second stud will be slippedand the crank member again springing out will, in. due course, pick upand operate the third ribbon carrying arm-Fig. 4. The rotation of thecrank member nee continue no further, as all the arms are depressed.Now, assuming that the shaft 10 be locked, as will presently bedescribed, against a reversal of its rotation, if then the arms bemanually swung up to elevated position, the last stud ll pressing on thepick-up, lug of the crank member, will tend to recondense said member,so that the lug will slip said stud, and

' striking the middle stud will slip it also, and

by the time the arms have reached their elevated position, the crankmember will be recondensed to its initial position with its pick-up lugbearing behind the first stud; and thereupon the operation may berepeated. Thus the manifolding ribbons, one or more of them, may bethrown into first position, as required. i

From this first position, the r1bbons, or such of them as may be soplaced are moved to the second or functional position in the line oftype impact, as seenin Fig. 9, by de pressing the lever 9 which effectsa movement about the shafts 7 as axes. This second operation, however,is made to serve,

through suitable means, the further desirable result of varying, at eachline spacing movement of the platen, the position of the manifoldingribbons with respect to their width. when in functional position, sothat they may be used over their entire width and thus prolong theiruseful life.

Mounted upon the bracket 6Figs. 5 and 8, is a short shaft 18which'carries a pinion 19, adapted to engage with the ratchet 2 of theplaten 1, Fig. 8. The shaft 18 has a crank 20, to the free end of whichis pivoted a link 21, controlled by a spring 22, and carrying inits freeend a lug 23Fig. 8.

Secured upon the shaft 7 is a quadrant 24 upon which the lug 23 of thelink 21 rides,

said lug drops when the two are made to register, as seen in Fig. 9.Carried by the crank 8 is a pawl 26Fig. 6, controlled by a spring 27said pawl being adapted to engage with a ratchet 28 on the centeringshaft 10--Figs. 6 and 8. When the centering shaft 10 is turned toeifectthe first movement of the ribbon carrying arms as heretoforedescribed, the ratchet 28 slips the pawl 26 and thus said movement isnot interfered with. But the pawl 26 and ratchet 28 form a lock whichprevents the shaft 10 from rotating in a reverse direction. lVhen thesecond movement takes place, by the turning of the shaft 7, by means ofthe lever 9, the quadrant 24 is moved forward until its notch 25 reachesthe lug 23 of the link 21, whereupon said lug drops into the notch-Fig.9.

Then when the platen is turned for line spacing, its ratchet 2 engagingthe pinion 19 will effect a slight rotation of the shaft 18. Thismovement of the shaft, through its crank 20 and link 21 will pull backthe quadrant 2-l slightly, and this movement of the quadrant, by turningthe shaft 7 will vary the position of the ribbons with respect to theirwidth, when in the line of type impact.

The locking of the shaft 10 by the pawl 26 and ratchet 28, againstreverse movement, prevents the spiral spring crank member 16 from anytendency to'unwind itself and get into false positions between the studs14.

29 is a safety stop guide carried by a standard 30 from the bracket 6.This stop guide. as seen in Fig. 8, is so placed with relation to thearcuate path of the arms about the shaft 10 as an axis, that the studs14 of said,

menses cepted by the guide 29 and the ribbons cannot be moved intoition.

A brief resume of the operation of the attachment may conduce to abetter understanding.

The normal, out of the way position of the parts is best seen in Fig. 8.To use the ribbons, the shaft 10 is turned to the left, and theselective spring member 16, engaging its end 17 successively behind thestuds 14: of the carrying arms will move said arms and their ribbons,with the sleeves as axes,

down to first position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 8. Thenlever 9 is depressed, whereby the shaft 7 with its crank 8 turning, willcarry the arms down to their functional position as shown in Fig. 9.

When the need for the ribbons is past, the arms are returned by hand,and the selective spring member 16 is by this movement restored to itsnormal position.

When the ribbons are in use in their functional position in the line oftype impact, they will be slightly moved widthwise at each line spacingof the platen. lit will also be seen that one or more of the ribbons maybe placed in functional position, as required.

I claim:

1. A manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a plurality ofindependently rotatable nested members mounted on the platen carriage ofthe machine parallel with the platen; an arm carried at each end of eachof said members;,a manifolding member carried by and between each pairof arms; a rotatable shaft lying in the axis of movement of said nestedmembers; a spring carried by and spirally coiled about said shaft in aplane at an angle to its axis, said spring havin a pick-up lug on thefree extremity; an studs on the arms lying in the path of rotation ofthe pick-up lug.

2. A. manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a plurality ofindependently rotatable nested members mounted on the platen carriage ofthe machine parallelwith the platen; an arm carried at each end of ,eachof said members; a manifolding member carried by and between each pairof arms; a rotatable shaft lying in the axis of movement of said nestedmembers; a spring carried by and spirally coiled about said shaft in aplane at an angle to its axis, sald spring having a pick-up lug on thefree extremity; studs on the arms lying in the path of rotation of thepick-up lug; and means for locking said shaft against reverse rotation.

3. A manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a pair ofspaced-brackets mounted on the platen carriage of the machine; a crankshaft mounted in each of said brackets; a rotatable member carried bythe cranks of said shafts, parallel with the platen; spaced arms carriedby said member; a manifolding member carried by and between said arms;means for turnin said rotatable member to move its arms an manifoldingmember forwardly to a position in front of the platen above the line oftype impact; means for turning said crank shafts to carry said arms andmanifolding member down to position in the line of type impact; anotched quadrant carried by one of said crank shafts; a second crankshaft mounted in one of the brackets; a pinion on said second crankshaft adapted to engage the ratchet of the platen; and a link carried bythe crank of said second crank shaft, said link having a lug adapted toengage the notched plate of the first crank shaft when the manifoldingmembers are in the line of type impact.

4:. A manifolding attachment for typewriters comprising a pair of spacedbrackets mounted on the platen carriage of the machine; a crank-shaftmounted in each of said brackets; a centering shaft mounted in thecranks of said crank-shafts; a plurality of independently nested membersmounted beat each end of each of said nested members;

a manifolding member carried by and between each pair of arms; a springcarried by one of said centerin shafts, coiled spirally thereabout in ap ane at an angle to its axis, said spring having a pick up lug at itsfree extremity; studs on the arms lying in the path of rotation of thepick up lug, whereby each of said arms may be moved to carry itsmanifolding member to position in front of the platen above the line oftype impact; means for rotating said centering shaft; means for rotatingone of said crank shafts to carry the manifoldin ribbons fully down toposition in the line 0 type impact; a notched quadrant carried by saidcrankshaft; a second crank-shaft mounted in one of the brackets; apinion on said second crank-shaft adapted to engage the ratchet of theplaten; a link carried by the crankshaft, said link having a lug adaptedto engage the notched quadrant of the first crankshaft when themanifolding members are in the line of type impact; a pawl carriedMALCOLM L. COSSITT.

